Here are nine things to do every day to stop bacteria, mold, and mildew.
• Use daily shower cleaner to prevent soap scum buildup. Squeegee doors and walls after each shower to discourage mold. Use an exhaust fan or open a window while showering to vent the moist air.
• Keep sanitizing wipes on hand for cleaning on the fly.
• Hand towels so they will dry as quickly as possible.
• Wipe the sink, faucets, and countertop after the final use every morning.
• Use a flues release cleaning product in the toilet bowl or brush a bowl daily to keep it clean.
• Pour all purpose cleaner in the toilet brush holder to keep it fresh and ready to use.
• Once a week, give your bathroom a more thorough top to bottom cleaning, use a diluted solution of all purpose cleaner or a commercial bathroom cleaner to clean sinks, counters, and shower stalls.
• Use separate sponges or cleaning cloths for cleaning the toilet area, which is likely to have the highest concentration of germs.
• Avoid storing toothbrushes near the toilet. With every flush, particles of water cans spray and land up to 20 feet way. Always close the toilet lid before flushing.
Your biggest challenges
• Erase stains in the toilet or on any porcelain surface with a pumice stick.
• Scrub mold and mildew with a few drops of dishwashing liquid in warm water. Then scrub with 1 ¼ cups of liquid chlorine bleach in 1 quart of water, wait 20 minutes and repeat.
• Spray distilled white vinegar onto mold, let vinegar sit without rinsing.
• Periodically wash plastic shower liners in the washing machine with hot water and detergent in the regular cycle. Throwing in a bath towels helps scrub mildew and soap scum off the liner.
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By cooking meals at home, you get to save money and when you use your kitchen appliances properly, you save energy as well.
• Be energy aware – keep the lid on the pot, use less water when cooking eggs and vegetables. Use a pressure cooker, don’t preheat the oven. If you have an electric stove, switch off the hotplates and the oven sooner, and let the food finish cooking free of charge.
• Get rid of energy guzzlers and check power consumption of any new appliances before you buy them. For example old fridges are very inefficient and they stay on all the time. Buy only the most energy efficient appliances.
• Stand your fridge in a cool place not near the stove or in the sun. Make sure its seals are intact and ventilation grills dust free.
• Defrost regularly, fridges and freezers use more power when they ice up.
• Never heat water on a hotplate, electric kettles are more efficient, but heating water on a gas ring is even more efficient. Heating water consumes a lot of energy, so don’t heat more that what you need.
• Unplug the coffee maker after use, transfer extra coffee into a thermos instead of continuously heating it on the coffee maker.
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Erase watermarks from wooden furniture
Treat milky rings as soon as you see them. Dip a slightly damp cloth in a dollop of real mayonnaise mixed with cigarette ashes, and gently rub the mark. Or, make a half and half mixture of toothpaste and baking soda. Use a damp cloth to gently rub the paste over the whitish marks. You may have to do this several times to eliminate the rings and polish the furniture as you normally would.
De-clutter your counter
Tame that chaotic kitchen countertop and regain some much needed room by putting unused wall space to work. Go for wall mounted kitchen accessories like spice racks, paper towel holders, and utensil caddies. They keep all the essentials on hand but off your work surface. If your knife block is eating up valuable counter space, another option is mounting one to the wall or to the underside of your cabinet.
Stain review
Taking them off need not be such a chore with these tested tips
• Wash stained garments as quickly as possible. Old stains are much more difficult to remove than fresh ones.
• Never tackles sticky stains with lukewarm water and soap. It all do more harm than good.
• Always check the garment’s care label before washing. If in doubt, try the stain remover first on a piece of hem or a broad seam.
• Do not mix stain removers, never use various stain removers directly after each other. Use a different product only when the first one has been washed out.
• Work inside outward when using a stain remover. Rub the inside of the garment and hold a clean cloth on the outside to absorb the stain.
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Chase those pests away
• Prune plants to help increase air circulation
• Trim grass
• Inspect each leaf for pests, remove affected areas to prevent further damage
• Make space for pepper and marigold flowers as they’re natural pest repellants
• Get rid of any stagnant water it attracts molds and mosquitoes
• If you have a small pond, put in some small fishes as they’ll eat the larvae eggs of most insects
• Let pond water overflow once in a while to get rid of unwanted larvae eggs.
• Refrain from using pesticides. Use improperly, it may hurt your plants and yourself
• Opt for natural insect repellants like a mild chili mixture that emits a strong odor.
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A fresh start outdoor, try these easy ways to make your home sparkle from the outside. A new year doesn’t necessarily mean a new house, but you can restore your home’s glory by sprucing it up. Start on the outside, work your way around, then head indoors. That way, even as you’re busy cleaning inside, your neighbors won’t have a clue. Enlist your whole family to help tackle these chores. It’s more fun that way.
• Walk through your yard and pick up any fallen tree branches, rocks, or other unsightly debris before giving your lawn a fresh mow.
• If your patio cushions are in good shape, fend off stains. Replace them with pretty new ones to lift your spirits.
• Brighten plastic resin furniture by sponging it off with a solution of warm water mixed with five to six from of dish detergent.
• Swap in new entry mats on our front and deck doors, they make your home look polished and will help cut down on the dirt and sand your family tracks in.
• Make your grill gleam.
• Use power washer to rinse off the outside of your home, the driveway, even grimy glass top patio tables.
• Gently cover potted plants with plastic bags and ties, spray pots with a hose to rinse away grime. Use a paintbrush to wipe dirt and dust off plants.
• Beautify your yard without the help of a gardener add a wind chime and colorful flowerpots, set up cedar storage boxes with insulated interiors, so you won’t have to haul out an ugly plastic cooler for every party.
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Start the year right by doing a little cleaning, ridding your self of last year’s junk and adding little touches to update every corner of your home.
Living Room
1. Get rid of musty smells by spraying an air deodorizer on your couch and other hotspots like the dog’s bed and dirty shoes.
2. Buy few new throw pillows in bright colors and toss them on your couch and beds.
3. Go over TVs, DVD players, and other electronics with a specialized cleaning solution.
4. Give chandeliers and glassware a quick shine with your own two hands! Put on a pair of cotton gloves; use a damp one to dust and polish, and the other to dry. Try this for glass-covered photos and paintings; it will prevent water from seeping into the frames.
5. Give furniture a once over with a soft cloth and no wax furniture polish. Dust nooks and crannies with a soft brush like a pastry brush.
6. Turn off the lights and when the bulbs are cool, wipe them with a damp cloth to remove dirt. They will seem brighter when you turn them back on.
Kitchen and Dining
1. Go through your pantry, tossing anything that’s past its expiration date. Wipe down each item with a damp rag or microfiber cloth before you put it back.
2. Buy new place mats for your kitchen and dining room tables. Shop discounts stores for fun, seasonal designs or just go for a mix or bright colored solids.
Floor, walls and windows
1. Sweep dull hardwood floors, then make them gleam with a coat of wax paste.
2. Clean windows with a squeegee dipped in window cleaner then, dry them with a microfiber cloth to eliminate streaks.
3. Dust blinds with a duster that has an extension handle then use it to clear cobwebs from every corner. Tackle pesky spiders early on, before they become permanent tenants in your home.
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What’s the point of a life that goes so fast and ends so quickly?
Scientist once thought that the vertebrate with the shortest life span was the turquoise killifish. This small fish lives in seasonal rain pools in equatorial Africa and must complete its life cycle in 12 weeks before the pools disappear. But researches from Australia have now four that the pygmy goby has even shorter lifespan. It lives fast and dies young. This tiny fish lives in coral reefs for an average of 56 days. Its rapid reproductive cycle is designed to help it avoid extinction.
Significance is not found in the number of our days, but in what our eternal God says about how we have used them.
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In such time, we are vulnerable to wrong assumptions and conclusions about life, about God, and about prayer. In Psalm 13, David wrestled with the problem of unanswered prayer. He questioned why the world was so dangerous and pleaded for answers from God.
In the pain and struggle of living without answers, we can always find comfort in our heavenly Father.
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The writer of Proverbs urges us far search diligently for something for more precious wisdom. In chapter 2, a father encourages his son to do whatever is necessary to get insight and wisdom. This strenuous search for wisdom is actually a search for God Himself. In fact, inner happiness comes when man attains this wisdom.
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Much about the future remains a mystery, but we can confidently look forward to being in the presence of Christ with all the saints who have gone ahead.
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Falling isn’t good, but for anyone who has stumbled in life, something positive can result if the fall leads to a more careful way of living.
If you have stumbled along the course of life’s journey there’s hope. First, ask God for guidance, for He uphold all who fall. Next read the word and begin to live carefully by its principles be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
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Aesop tells the ancient story of a boy hunting for locusts. The lad had caught quite a few when he saw a scorpion. Mistaking it for a locust, he reached out his hand to take it. The scorpion showed his stinger and said “If you had but touched me, you would have lost me and all your locusts too!”
There something you cannot embrace without losing what you have in the process. Life offers us choices, Christ graciously offers us forgiveness for what is past, and wisdom for what yet lies ahead.
Stephen Kuusisto grew up feeling a stigma about being legally blind, when he was 39 his life changed after he acquired an affectionate and carefully trained guide dog named corky. In learning to use corky to lead him, He reflected on the growing trust in their relationship. He said “Faith moves from belief into conviction, then to certainty. He admitted that he needed the help of a sighted companion, a new world of freedom and mobility opened up to him.
Many believers blindly stumble their way through the Christian life in their own strength. Seemingly, they are unaware that God has provided a supernatural guide to lead the way.
All of us have a something in our past that we regret doing. It may have been an honest mistake, a moral failure, or a foolish decision. We wish it had not happened, but it remains in our mind and often drags us down.
“Honey is sweet to your taste; so shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul; if you have found it, there is a prospect and your hope will not be cut-off. (Prov. 24:13-14)
While the past remains part of our lives, it doesn’t have to determine our future, with God’s wisdom and the forgiveness we can focus on the future with hope.
As the first green heads of grain formed on the spring barley in Israel, workers would tied a ribbon around each budding stem to set them apart from the still immature barley. When this marked grain ripened, it was harvested for the temple in Jerusalem because God commanded that when they came to the feast, they should not appear before the Lord empty handed.
Some of us are so busy doing things to please the Lord that we forget to rest in what Christ has already accomplished. Because Jesus is our firstfruits, we have infinite value and will never come before him empty handed.
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Jack, a 15 pound cat, took seriously his job of guarding his owner’s backyard. He often scared small animal intruders away, but the owners were surprised when one day the found him sitting at the base of a tall tree, looking up at a large black bear.
Jack hissed at the bear as it wandered into the yard from the nearby woods. The scared bear quickly climbed up a tree. How could a big black bear be afraid of a little kitty?
When something concerns us, what’s our perspective? It’s not what we see but how we see it that reveals our attitude. If we look at life through the lens of our powerful and good God, we’ll trust Him instead of fearfully worrying. When our perspective is right, we can see God and his faithful provision.
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What a profound privilege it is to mirror God’s love, mercy, grace, justice, and righteousness to a world whose heart is veiled to god’s truth. Our purpose is to show others less of us more of Him. That’s living on purpose with a purpose.
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